Shattered Dreams

No, I'm not talking about any of mine. This is about Poor, Poor, Hayden.

For a while now Hayden has been asking for a Xbox 360. I've been able to blow it off for some time but just this last 2 weeks or so he has really been taking it up a notch. He has been asking how he can raise money and telling me that it's all he thinks about, that its his dream to own one, haven't I ever wanted something really bad as a kid...these kinds of things. At first I told him it was out of the question...the console is too much (300) the games are too much (around 60) and that we don't have the right kind of tv for it. All that was not working so, I've been trying to teach a little lesson in patience and hard work by telling him that he can try to make money this summer by doing odd jobs for neighbors and us and that with his hard work he may just be able to raise the money for it.

Well he comes back at me and says "Mom, do you know how hard it is for children to raise money, especially 300 dollars?" Well yeah, Hayden I do, its going to be really hard but it will help your appreciate it more. Hmm, still not getting it.

So then I try to convince him that maybe if he thinks its too much for him that he could set a more realistic goal and try to earn for a playstation 2. This game system is much more reasonable...you can buy one used with games for like $100. And when he wants a new game most of them are around 20 bucks. So he goes to bed thinking about it.

This is what he comes up with in the morning.
" Mom, I know that you told me that getting a playstation 2 is my 'path' (his words not mine) but owning a Xbox is my dream and now I'm starting to feel like dreams don't come true" Well what do I say to that?? I really was speechless. I came up with, well you are just going to really have to work hard if you feel like that's what you want and when you earn it you'll feel like your dream has come true. After that he was off to school, but still looking defeated.

When I saw him after school that day he asked me, "How much money do you think I could get for my birthday?"
Huh, I guess he is just not getting the hard work lesson. I'm starting to worry that his dream will be shattered. Poor, Poor boy